- Skye Nykamp was 36 weeks’ pregnant when her partner Josh went for a motorbike ride
- Just a few hours later, she received a bone-chilling phone call that Josh had had an accident
- As Skye went into labour and pushed a new life into the world, Josh was down the corridor fighting for his
- Here, Skye Nykamp, 28, from Aldgate, SA, shares their story…
My fiancé, Josh, grabbed his helmet and keys then headed for the door.
“See you later, babe,” he said, smiling.
“Enjoy your last ride before becoming a daddy,” I joked.
It was 2021, and, at 36 weeks’ pregnant, Josh and I were on the final countdown before I was due to give birth to our first baby.
Josh, 29, who worked as an electrician, was a keen motorbike rider, and although I’d always worried that biking was dangerous, I could understand his desire to join his mates, Jon, 29, and Levigh, 27, on a ride around the area.
Three hours later, I was trying to nap to combat my nausea and diabetes when the phone rang.
It was Jon.
“Josh has had a little accident and messed up his knee,” he began telling me.
My heart leapt.
“Is he okay?” I trembled, tears welling up in my eyes.
Jon told me Josh was in a helicopter on his way to the hospital as he’d had the accident in a remote, rocky area and the ambulance couldn’t find its way in.
I called my younger brother, Cooper, 24, and asked him to drive me over.
When we finally reached the hospital, I waited for three gruelling hours before finding out Josh was actually in a different hospital!
Rushing there, I learned he was in ICU and about to be taken for surgery.
One glimpse of him and I nearly fainted… this was much more than just an injured knee.
Josh was surrounded by so many doctors, and there were several tubes going into him. He could barely talk because his lip and nose were smashed.
Turned out, Jon had downplayed it over the phone as he didn’t want me to stress while I was heavily pregnant.
“I’m sorry, I’m sorry,” Josh kept mumbling, gurgling blood.
My legs buckled and a nurse had to hold me.
“You’re going to be okay,” I said, telling Josh that I loved him.
Devastating injuries
The doctors explained to me that Josh had suffered broken ribs, a collapsed lung, split spleen, lost a kidney, broken his back, and had a major internal bleed.
His friends later told me that Josh had hit a divot on the dirt track just as he rounded a blind corner, causing him to lose control of his motorbike.
He was catapulted from the seat and flew through the air before hitting a metal and wooden fence pole, and the bike landed on his side.
After six hours of surgery, doctors assured me he was stable, but still in a very serious condition.
“It was like gluing a smashed dinner plate back together… he shouldn’t be alive,” one told me.
Josh was put into an induced coma, and I was told to go home.
We met briefly the next day after he’d woken up, but my fiancé was too groggy and sleepy to speak.
On his third day in hospital, my feet were so swollen my thongs snapped. I also had pain in my upper abdomen.
“It’s stress,” a nurse said. “You need to go home and rest.”
I followed her orders, and my younger sister, Lilee, 24, stayed with me.
At 1.30am I rolled over in bed and noticed a damp patch – my waters had broken!
Soon after, the contractions started.
Surprisingly, I stayed calm and called Jon to inform the hospital, so they could let Josh know, while Lilee took me there.
But heading to the labour ward without Josh, panic quickly set in.
So close
We were in the same hospital, just down the corridor from each other, but we couldn’t be together.
“I can’t do this alone!” I cried, knowing that as I was going into labour, my fiancé was fighting for his life.
But the baby was coming, so I had little choice.
Lilee put Josh on Facetime.
“You’re so strong,” Josh stammered encouragingly.
He was in extreme pain, drifting in and out of sleep. When I began to push, he tried to urge me on.
“You can do this,” he said.
After an hour and a half of pushing, baby Xander was born.
Xander had long blond hair like Josh and a round face like me.
“Hello bubba,” I said, kissing him.
Two hours later, I took him to meet his dad.
Even in his condition, he managed to kiss his newborn son.
I tried to feed Xander next to Josh and we even arranged for his first bath in the ICU ward so Josh could see it. He was very quiet and visibly upset about the situation.
“You’re here and that’s all that matters,” I said.
As much as I could, I put up a brave front, but I was emotionally distraught.
This wasn’t how I had imagined starting our family.
As if sensing my turmoil, Xander slept and fed easily.
When it was sunny outside, we’d wheel Josh out to the hospital grounds, where he sat with Xander in his arms.
Accidents happen
Fifteen days later, Josh was discharged, but for the next five weeks he still needed 24-7 care, and could only walk with a leg brace.
It was really hard being a first-time mum and a full-time carer both at once.
“I’m so sorry that you had to go through the birth alone,” Josh said. “I wish I’d never gone out riding.”
I assured him it wasn’t his fault, accidents happen.
Josh had to undergo months of physio and rehab but as soon as he was able to, he helped me feed, dress and bathe Xander.
Since then, things have been on the up.
We married in March 2023 at a wedding estate and Xander, two, carried a briefcase with the rings in it!
Seeing Josh standing there, I barely held it together remembering how close I’d come to losing him.
“I love you so much,” he said.
Xander is the sweetest kid and adores his dad.
Sometimes, I wonder why we didn’t get a normal birth, but there’s no use dwelling on the past.
Whenever I look at my husband and son playing, I just feel so blessed to see my beautiful little family.
